Well with the sudden turn of events this year and with lockdown in place, I was not going to be deterred from executing my passion and new avenues had to be considered. Keeping in touch with fellow filmmakers and time for lengthier discussions; this little short film came into existence.
My first and hopefully last ‘lockdown’ production – shot on an iphone with less then a skeleton crew...
Embracing the digital world and all that it has to offer in these unprecedented times, became the focus for this little endeavour. Director/producer/writer Ket shared his ambition of making a little iPhone shortfilm. It started out with a conversation over the phone (and many more to follow) and scribbles on paper on my end.
I am not quite ready to give up on pen and paper … LOL. But threw a few digital moodboards together too: we got off to a good start.
Oh yah … and of course video calls and zoom calls, are part of the new normal by now.
It soon became clear that communication and sharing of mind and vision: was still very possible from a distance. Indulging in the time we had, curious about methods of filmmaking: This grew quickly in its ambitions and presented a great learning curve for the mechanism of the art department and filmmaking.
Settling mood, feel – colour grading – and generally exploring the story world: this ‘alternative reality’ was set in. I got to unpick the script (once it was written) and tried my hand on storyboarding. The in depth feedback I got from Ket, helped me to understand further the ability and communications necessary and found in the art department.
And I got to do some set dec from a distance too, with some lucky and desired finds lurking in those forgotten cupboards.
From start to finish it was a process of probably 3 weeks, with Ket doing most of the work and absorbing a long list of roles.
The constant batting to and fro with impressions and ideas, the feel of the shortfilm became much more expansive and we both knew that we needed to involve more people as that is at the heart of filmmaking and creates better work…
And there was more that could be done from a distance: luckily enough Ket got Francesco for the sound design and the scoring: I was so hoping for – to communicate the impressions of the story world adequately. I was able to listen into the casting of the right voice overs and a few tweaks to stay on the page of the story world – and we got there. A completed version.
For those that are a little more curious about the making of, in the post production side of things and how the story board helped to execute – here is a very accessible walk-through tutorial, with Ket.
Now it’s onto sharing of this creation and the next big stop is of course the online KINO world, where this short got selected for some premiere lists. And more to come later in the year.
Should you be curious right now – here it is online – oh yah … hold on and bear with- until… after the credits – I got my happy ending – in the end. 😉
And turn up the volume, Francesco has done wonders.
JUNE @2020
In the Art-department 